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Hello All. I am moving in 3 weeks to St. Thomas. I am planning on shipping through Crowley by way of a 20 foot crate. My question is where should I have it delivered? The first place I thought of is a storage facility so that I have time to move it in to a new place ( Which has not been determined yet). Has anyone shipped a crate and delivered to a storage facility? If so how secure is it? An recommendations?
Posted : September 17, 2010 12:54 am
The 20 ft container will be as secure as the locks you put on it. Check with Crowley because they will want the container back unless you own it. They may let you rent it otherwise they give you a week or so to empty it. They will also leave it on the trailer whereever you have it delivered so you'll need a ladder or ramp to unload it.
Posted : September 17, 2010 10:47 am
How long do you think you will need to store it? Most shipping container contracts give you only a few days at the destination end before they start charging for daily use of the container. Add that to monthly rental at a storage facility and it can add up very quickly.
If you need to store your belongings for more than a few days consider storing them at a local moving warehouse. They can pick up the container when it arrives at STT, bring it to their warehouse, and unload it into storage "vaults" which are large wooden crates. The lobor cost to move the contents from container to vault should be a significant savings over storing a rented container.
When you're ready to move into you new place the movers can eliver the vaults for you to unload. Or you can pay them to do it.
Another idea is store your stuff at a mover's warehouse at your current location. Have them pack it inot a container and ship it when you're ready for it on STT.
Friends who recently moved from FL to STX packed all of their belongins into four PODs. The first month storage was free. When they were ready for their stuff they had the POD people delivered their PODs to VI Cargo in FL. VI Cargo transferred the contents to a 40' container and shipped it to STX.
While packing yourself can be a money saver up front there can be considerable additional costs involved. Anything you can do in the states (I assume you're coming from the states) can be a savings.
Best of luck with your move. And remember, if it was easy everyone would be doing it!
Posted : September 17, 2010 10:56 am
Once you take posession of a container, unload it immediately, or it may get broken into on its first night. That's pretty common on STX. It seems that somebody from the shipping crew tips off the "teefs."
Posted : September 17, 2010 5:32 pm